Netta Barzilai

“I started with soul music and icons like Aretha Franklin and Etta James and then moved to R&B and artists such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. Electronic music came later on, when I was in high school and I was really influenced by artists like Skrillex and Major Lazer.”

“Tell me where to sing to solve the world's problems and I'll go.”

“I don't sing beautifully or grandly or in a very 'moving' way. I am me - which is not very beautiful at times, and not very organised or regular.”

“When I was about 10 years old, the 'Ricki Lake show' aired in Israel, and it was the first time I was exposed to American reality culture.”

“I am a very poppy little girl. I wasn't allowed to be poppy at first because y'know in my mind, pop stars are thin and beautiful and light, and I've never felt beautiful, skinny and light.”

“Fashion is a great love of mine. I'm used to looking really hard for clothes that I like and I am really fortunate to have an amazing team of talented artists who work day and night with me to create our visions and make them come alive.”

“I tried to get a job in music but was too unique to stand behind someone as a backing vocal or to sing in weddings.”

“It's amazing to see how if we don't open our minds to something different, we wont evolve as a species.”

“Israel is incredible, it throws the best party ever and people should come.”

“I believed what people said, that I don't deserve to be a leader because of the way I look. That I don't deserve to be popular, that I don't deserve to be loved. I'm not intelligent.”

“For years I would sit on the side when my friends swam in the water. There is no feeling worse than that, to be afraid of what people will say about you, or to be embarrassed by who you are and what you are.”

“Do good to others, be good to yourselves.”

“I worked as a barista and a kindergarten teacher. I really love kids and enjoyed every minute of being in a kindergarten.”

“My presence and my voice on stage, it sends a clear message that you can do whatever you want in your life, break barriers, stigmas - be the new standard.”

“As you can see me, genetically, my brothers and I are all kind of the same. We all have this chubby little appearance and we all have a sweet tooth, so our mother really tried her best to forbid this kind of stuff in our house.”

“I like to mix things up and I take inspiration from many different art forms.”

“I didn't plan to go to Eurovision and I didn't plan on winning. I was a struggling musician, hoping for a couple of gigs.”

“I knew nothing about Eurovision.”

“I was a big girl considering herself beautiful, which is in conservative Israel had never been seen.”

“I was told all my life to sing like Aretha Franklin, or Adele, cover myself with black clothing and show more soul, sing bigger.”